"It's pretty much always a disaster," he said, following my eyes as I scanned the room. "I plan to move when my lease is up this summer."

When we got to the kitchen, and by "kitchen," I mean a few appliances shoved into the corner of his living room, I gave the outside of his fridge a once-over. It was littered with pictures, magnets and post-its. I stopped at a picture that seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it. Ben came up behind me, resting his hands on each side of my waist and his chin on top of my head.

Then I remembered -- when Brad and I had been looking for info about Ben online before we actually met, I'd come across this photo on Flickr. He was about 100 pounds heavier, but when I looked at it more closely, I could tell it was Ben.

"When was that picture taken?" I asked, shocked.

"About three years ago," he explained. "I keep it in the kitchen as a reminder."

He told me the rest. He'd always been really overweight, but three years ago he had hit 300 pounds and kept going, and decided he had to do something before his health started deteriorating. He worked with a nutritionist and trainer and lost about 120 pounds, hitting his goal weight about a year ago.

"That's amazing," I said, impressed. "You should be really proud of yourself."

"I am," he said with a shy smile. "But I'm still not really used to it. In my head, I'm still the funny fat guy, you know?"

"Well, as far as I can tell, now you're the funny gorgeous guy."

His face flushed.

"Why are you blushing? You have to know how good looking you are, and I know you're not shy."

"I am when it comes to women," he admitted.

"You were all Rico Suave with me."

"Yeah, but you were really obvious. I was pretty sure you weren't going to reject me, unless you had a boyfriend or something."

"Oh. My. God." I said, laughing.

"Now you're blushing," he pointed out with a grin. "Let's order in. I don't feel like cooking."

I didn't, either, so we ordered Chinese. I decided against the sesame chicken with fried rice and an egg roll when he opted for brown rice and steamed vegetables. I think Ben's going to be a good influence on me in the healthy eating department.

I'm also enjoying the "insane making out" department, which we devoted quite a bit of time to. I am crazy attracted to him, and based on some, uh, physical signs on his end, I'd say the feeling is mutual. He's heading out to Chicago for work on Monday, and I head out to the sleep clinic in Boston the day he gets back, so we won't see each other until next Sunday. It seems painfully far away.